Table A-1
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t01.htm
Civilian Labor force
Not Seasonally Adjusted
155,255 - 155,075 = -180,000
Now apply the magic of seasonal adjustment and
-180,000 ==> + 418.000
Participation rate
Not seasonally adjusted
63.7 - 63.6 = -0.1
Now apply the magic of seasonal adjustment and
-0.1 ==> +0.1
I don’t know if we have season adjustments because someone thinks they make things more clear, or because they’re just one more way for the gov’t to play games with the numbers. But I don’t think we should even have seasonal adjustments. For those who pay attention to these stats, seeing the seasonal fluctuations would actually help them understand how the economy works and what factors impact various stats throughout the year.
Next, maybe the gov’t will decide to seasonally adjust the temperature and general weather activity. Sort of smooth out the extremes for us.